little bit at
the end about separating an act from its consequences told wonderfully
among the boys. They raised an almost unanimous cry of "Well done,
Ken", "Quite right", "Harpour shan't be caned."

Henderson had been watching Kenrick with an expression of intense anger
and disdain. At the end of his remarks, he sprang, rather than rose, up
and immediately began to pour out an impetuous answer. His first words,
before the fellows had observed that he meant to speak, were drowned in
the general uproar; and when they had all caught sight of him, an
expression of decided disapprobation ran round the throng of listeners.
It did not make him swerve in the slightest degree. Looking round
scornfully and steadily, he said--

"I know why some of you hiss. You think I told Dimock of Harpour. As
it happens I _didn't_; but I'm neither afraid nor ashamed to tell you
all, as I told Harpour to his face, that I had fully intended to do it--
or rather I meant to tell, not Dimock, but Somers. _Will_ you let me
speak?" he asked, angrily, as his last sentence was interrupted by a
burst of groans, commenced by a few of those whose interests were most
at stake, and taken up by the mass of ignorant boys.

Power plucked Henderson by the sleeve, and whispered, "Hush, Flip; go
on, but keep your temper."

"I've as much right to speak--if this is meant for a school meeting--as
Kenrick or any one else; and what I have to say is this: Kenrick has
been merely throwing dust into your eyes, misleading you altogether
about the true state of the case. It's all very fine, and very easy for
him to talk so lightly of its being `a joke,' and `a bit of fun,' and so
on; but I should like to ask him whether he believes that? and whether
he's not just hunting for popularity, and mixing up with it a few
private spites? and whether he's not thoroughly ashamed of himself at
this moment? There! you may see that he is," continued Henderson,
pointing at him; "see how he is blushing scarlet, and looking the very
picture of degradation."

Here Kenrick started up and most irascibly informed Henderson that he
wasn't going to sit there and be slanged by him, and that as he was in
the chair, he would not let Henderson go on any more unless he cut short
his abuse; and while Kenrick was saying this, in which he entirely
carried the meeting with him, Power again whispered, "You're getting too
personal, Flip; but go on, only say no more about Kenrick--though I'm